Terminate
by Ann Sorelle
Summary: Nightwing & Company on a mysterious winter's night. Will they survive to tell the tale? Please R & R
1. Prologue

  
Terminate by Ann Sorelle  
  
Disclaimer: Batman, Nightwing, Robin & associated Characters belong to DC Comics. This is an Original piece of fiction - for Non-monetary purposes with no intent of infringing the copyrights & trademarks mentioned above.  
  
Terminate: Story Copyright - Ann Sorelle 2001  
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Prologue  
Location: Bludhaven Tuesday 22nd Feb 2 AM   
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Midwinter's night. Cold and even colder .The weather had out predicted the forecasts, 22cm of freezing rain and the city of Blud was feeling the effects of it. Car crashes happening on every left, right, and center corner in the city.  
  
An Electronic Eye the size of a walnut continued to make sweeps on the intercity bridge. It sought its target at the high end of the overpass. A male figure in the shades of black on robin's egg blue perched on the periphery of the metal beam   
  
"Why don't people sit tight and warm at home in this weather," grumbled Nightwing. "God only knows that I could use a break. Okay, Grayson enough with the bad grousing it surely isn't going to make you feel b......"  
  
BOOOOOOOOOM! Nightwing jerked his head back from his musings and stared at the Highway 11 leading out to Gotham City . A truck advertising Wick's Oil and Fuel was overturn screeching and hissing tearing onto the opposite lanes ,...into a blue beetle swerved to get out of its way ..that ran into a red dust mustang, which crashed over the railing into the Gotham River.  
  
Nightwing leapt into flurry of motion, at the first soar he dragged the unconscious driver of the oil truck far away to the vicinity of the rest of the upcoming traffic that was slowly coming to halt. A few of the boys in blue were already on the scene halting the rest of the traffic. He left the man there and started running towards the railing.  
  
Pieces of the rust coloured mustang were deeply imprinted on the black railing, bits of glass were scattered like crushed gems awash with tears of blood already starting to solidify. He took a jumpline from his gloves tying it to a solid vertical support beam, pulled hard on it -testing it for durability and slowly making his way down.  
  
Nightwing turned on his nightvision glasses and adjusted to go ultra red - intensifying the magnifying properties so that he could pick any spec of heat, human or mechanical. Wind was battering him with the fury of a temperamental child, attempting to tug him away from his quest into the chilly embrace of the waters below. Opposing it he started his descent. Water sloshing down his 'wing suit like milk on cornflakes.   
  
Every so often he found himself slammed against the bridge bruised and bashing open old wounds turn the water into a pinkish hue. Cursing all the way down he forged ahead with the phrase no pain no gain hammering into his brain. He could barely make a few dots of red making through the specs in his mask..  
  
"Mechanical, he muttered to himself, then where's the person driving the 'tang?"   
He came to a horizontal landing into form of a small slope that led of the river's edge he cautiously approached the vehicle, "Hello can anybody hear me?"  
  
As he came close to the windshield a small note was attached.  
A BAT FOR THE PRICE OF TWO.  
A Whirling sound and a tape played DESIGNATE NIGHTWING TERMINATE  
  
"OH S#!+!!" Nightwing had two seconds to move then a boom reprised an encore for the night.   
  
The eye transmitted a harvest's worth of images and returned to its slumber.  
  
And the darkness fell............  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  



	2. A Robin's Nest

Terminate by Ann Sorelle  
  
Disclaimer: Batman, Nightwing, Robin & associated Characters belong to DC Comics. This is an Original piece of fiction - for Non-monetary purposes with no intent of infringing the copyrights & trademarks mentioned above.  
  
Terminate: Story Copyright - Ann Sorelle 2001  
  
Special Thanks to Cookie, Jen, Emma, Cyndi, J.W, Robin, Shadowstar & slappykidd for the reviews-It's great to be here!  
  
Dedicated to C.S.(AKA BCW) thanks for giving me the guts to post this!  
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Chapter #1- A robin's nest  
Location: Gotham Tuesday 22nd Feb 1AM   
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Mid winters night. Cold and Colder. "I wish Alfred packed more chicken soup", thought Robin. "Even mister frigidaire underwear, Freeze would be cracking his buns off by now". The teen was crouched on top of an old warehouse facing Gotham River, nearing the state of being uncomfortably numb. He mounted himself a little higher up, extended his legs and began a series of stretching exercises trying to get blood flowing back to his extremities.  
  
Wind was blowing from the Northeast, scuttling sleet and freezing rain. The majority of precipitation had already expelled its bounty and moved on to the city of Bludhaven. His thoughts drifted over to his brother in Arms and how he was faring in this weather. "NW's probably grumbling his heart out by now".   
An image of a dripping wet and disgruntled bird popped in his brain and Robin choked in silent laughter.   
  
He was staking out Valter Zewg's Imported Goods & Other Collectibles at the far side of the docks. GCPD got an anonymous tip that an after hours shipment received there could be promising ... A series of war crime documents thefts occurring in Gotham were keeping the GCPD and his mentor's hands full.   
  
At the opposite side of the docks in Crime Alley, Batman was tracking down Catwoman. "I hope he doesn't go gaga after her again. But then again mmm Catwoman..." Robin had already been there for three hours. Two employees left around half hour ago and he hadn't seen a soul since.  
  
A red mustang cruising by the side entrance of the store grabbed his attention. It parked. Robin watched. Stared in fact. Looked like he wasn't the only person keeping the warehouse under surveillance. Half an hour passed. It was quarter to Two.   
  
"I'll give it another ten minutes, if nothing happens I'll drop a bat bug and return to the Cave."   
  
12 mins passed.   
  
"Okay, here goes nothing."  
  
Robin silently made his way down the fire escape. It was a old one -intimate with cobwebs and other outside debris. Wrapping itself around like an old friend, an artificial eye was avidly scanning the event . It huddled underneath the rust colored handrail unnoticed when his quarry passed by. It straightened back up to its former position, overseeing the trek made to the land below.   
The young hero stealthily descended, paying particular attention to the intricacies of metalwork. The stairway made a series of creaks but he was confident that it was masked by the noise of the wind.  
  
He leapt soundless to the ground and hit the shadows. He took a mechanical gadget the size of a pen and clasped the end of it. He gently squeezed the activation button and released the trigger. A minuscule projectile whirled out hitting the back fender of the vehicle.  
  
To his disbelief, it fell off.   
  
"What the h.. ? Maybe it's frozen solid- that could explain why.  
Alright let's do this the old way"  
  
Robin took another bug from his utility belt and crept low on the ground.  
Crawling on his hands and knees, he made his way to the back of the 'tang  
swimming in the icy water.   
  
"Alfred is NOT going to be happy to see me when I get back" he morbidly thought.  
  
He came across his previous bug. It was nearing Two. He turned it around. The back of it was burnt off. In amazement, he looked at the fender. A whooshing sound broke out through the silence followed by a white gas, expelling itself from the rear of the car.  
  
Robin strained to move but it was to late. A burning feeling deep inside his lungs started. He struggled to breathe. With the last bit of his energy he hit the transmitter on his suit. As the Darkness received him in its waiting arms, he heard the mustang's doors open and arms dragging him up and carrying him away.  
  
A card was dropped in the markings of the snow.  
  
A BAT OF THE PRICE OF TWO   
  
From up high, the eye conducted its finds back to the source.  
And seemingly vanished into thin air..  
  
  
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I know I'm a BAAADDDD girl for leaving you guys hanging on. A gazillion apologizes for not finishing this sooner. Cyndi- Double thanks for getting on my case. Only decent excuses I can give? Got distracted by another fic -unfortunately its not about the Boy wonder or anybody from the Batfamily (more on that Later). Any comments or threats ;) are appreciated.   
  
  
  



	3. A Day of a Bat

Terminate by Ann Sorelle  
  
Disclaimer: Batman, Nightwing, Robin & associated Characters belong to DC Comics. This is an Original piece of fiction - for Non-monetary purposes with no intent of infringing the copyrights & trademarks mentioned above.  
  
Terminate: Story Copyright - Ann Sorelle 2001  
  
Special Thanks to Kim, J.W., Robin & Slea for reviews on Chapter 2.It nice to know you enjoyed it!   
  
Dedicated to C.S. (AKA BCW)   
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Chapter #2-A Day of a Bat  
Location: Gotham Thursday 24th Feb   
*************************************  
  
"The preview for the launch of the WTPredator52 will be next Friday. Miss Knall, don't forget to include invites for everyone on your side. Ms.Siddall will take of ours. Mr. Downes is responsible for security detail-he will be available to address any last minute concerns that you may have. Bruce, shall we turn to the next item on the agenda- Bruce??"  
  
Lucius Fox turned back to stare at his boss across the boardroom and sighed deeply with obvious disappointment. Apparently, nothing of the 5-minute lecture previous to this latest debacle stuck to his employer's brain. Bruce Wayne, playboy of the Year (according to the Gotham Gazette) was staring into nothingness. They had delegates from Vienna for the Launch (their collaborators on the Aeronautic project) and he wished for them to get an admirable impression of the title-holder of WayneTech.  
  
He might as well wish for money to grow on trees. Fox managed to physically haul Wayne into the meeting but mental he was elsewhere...again... He still couldn't understand how successful Wayne Tech's business connections and developments were going with little contribution from the man in charge. But then again the few minutes of input he had from Bruce could translate into pure gold.  
  
Fox put in a lot of hard work but there were times when even he was stumped. Usually that was when Wayne's intellect had a moment of sheer brilliance and the problem would be solved in minutes. It seemed most of the time that Bruce couldn't be bothered with the everyday needs of his empire. Fox realized that he shouldn't be grumbling about it-otherwise he would be out of a job.  
  
It seemed weird to state but Bruce seemed more out of synch today. Probably had a late night out, with some young beautiful something... Lucius thought.  
  
Bruce Wayne turned and focused his cerulean eyes on his worried aide. "Sorry, Where were we again?" He finished the statement with his trademark Oopps, I did it again little boy grin.  
  
"The WTPredator52 launch" came the morose reply.  
  
Bruce's beeper went off. He checked the typed phrase: [Blue Homebase First-Orc]  
  
"Well then, does anybody have anything urgent to add?" The room stared at him.   
" No? As everything seems to be perfectly handled, Lucius will you please give them hands on site tour of our facilities. I'm sure you'll enjoy it followed by the dinner at the Wastham. All my apologies, unfortunately I just received a call on a matter that requires my immediate attention." With that statement Bruce left the room in haste and moving toward his target-his private office.  
  
He nodded to his secretary who followed him from the boardroom. Asking her to hold all his calls and rescheduled his meetings until further notice, Bruce hurriedly opened the twin doors to his inner sanctum. He hastily locked them behind him. Touching the black button underneath the top corner of his desk, a quick harsh clicking sound emitted from the piece of furniture as the drawers unlocked themselves. He opened fake bottom in the third desk drawer   
  
It was difficult to notice anything out of the ordinary in the drawer's appearance-other than the common streetwise clothes and boots placed there. Bruce hastily striped his Saville Row suit and put on the ripped shirt and washed-out jeans.   
  
He messed up his hair till it stood up on end, stuffed the shoes and suit in, placed some files on top of it. I would probably get a two hour lecture from Alfred if he were around He crouched to the floor and on bended knees reached the base of the desk. He turned a corner out and released a computerized extension from the crevice. Putting his pinky in the small scanner, the key was acknowledged. The floor section that the office chair was bolted down to, moved backwards opening a small drop hole.  
  
He slipped into the gap and pressed a green button, which sealed off the hatch leading to his office. A leather jacket and sunglasses were in the bottom; he put them on and touched a blue button. Another hatch opened leading to a large slidelike structure. He sat on it and dropped himself, descending like a speeding bullet tumbling faster and faster down the slide. Bruce came to an abrupt halt in a second antechamber. He checked the cameras monitoring the exterior of it. Nobody was outside. He opened the hatch and closed it. It camouflaged itself back with the cover, which seemed to be absorbed into the remaining of the wall.  
  
He looked around him and carefully proceeded to exit the WT Building. He came to the back of the building, near a little side street Italian eatery. Entering, he bought himself a sandwich. Leisurely munching, he strolled over to another couple of side streets. He came to a mall covered parking where his bike was parked. To the common passerby it was a dirty piece of junk; to the biker it was a 1966 Harley XLCH Ironhead in need of some tender loving care. As Dick reminded him often enough, he should be whipped for abusing such a beauty.   
  
He fired the bike up, roaring his way through the traffic. Another working day rush hour had yet to fade, shining metal contraptions and people passing busily by, hurrying back to work or other events. He checked his watch. Less than 10 minutes had passed from Oracle's page. Considering it was blue, he wanted to get to the Cave as soon as he could. If it was red, he would have probably gone a lot faster on the Harley and broke a couple of speed laws. If it was green he would have taken his time, it being either Dick or Tim asking him to play hokey for the rest of the day and getting involved in some mad capper of theirs.   
  
Bruce came by the western face of Wayne Manor proceeding to turn down the hill road to the enclosed entrance of the cave. He checked behind him and made sure that he entered undiscovered. Although he was on private property, it was nearing dusk and there was still enough daylight for him to be accidentally detected. It never hurt to be too careful.  
  
  
Coming into the mouth of the cave (his primary dwelling quarters), he parked the XLCH near the collection of extra vehicles that were used for surveillance when he or another member of his family was on a stakeout. Having such a distinctive car as the BatMobile was a drawback sometimes ...  
  
He took off his "biker" costume and changed into the familiar shades of the Bat.  
He booted up the Cray monitors, putting in his security protocols. A familiar Icon popped on the screen, followed by feminine face surrounded with a halo of red locks.   
  
Oracle rubbed her eyes tiredly and managed a weak grin. "I thought you'd get yourself faster out of that meeting."  
  
"Was it important?" he rumbled back  
  
"Okay, you're not making this any easier. Bruce, It's about Dick. There was an explosion last Tuesday on the intercity bridge leading to Gotham. There were reports of Nightwing in the area.......Bruce???  
  
The Bat gripped the corners of the metal counter top as hard as he could till his hands started to bleed.  
  
"Are you telling me that Dick is dead?" he managed to rasp out.  
  
"I don't know. They found no bodies, only scraps of the vehicle that blew up. The BPD placed the blame on the gas tank that sparked after crashing into the railing, they didn't find anything on who was driving the vehicle."  
  
"What about the locator on his suit?"  
  
"The last transmission from it was Tuesday 22nd at 2AM.I've been waiting to see if it was just a fluke and he would report in, but I haven't heard anything so far.."  
  
"Is there anything on the BPD's official report on this?"   
  
"The officer filing it is a klutz and anti-computers. He hasn't logged it in yet I'm waiting for his partner to do it. Hold on, I maybe getting something...  
Okay, he's filing it into the system. I'm downloading it now, send you a copy?"  
  
"DO IT."  
  
After tersely barking out the last command he began to pace restlessly. He spent a fortune on the technology found in the cave and in Oracle's Tower. It was the latest and the best that money could buy, and IT STILL TOOK F****** FOREVER to download anything. He was trying not to panic, remembering how many times it was a false alarm. But it didn't grow any easier- any mention of Dick getting hurt drove him berserk.  
  
He couldn't help but think that if he hadn't have requested total radio silence for the past few days while he was tracking down Catwoman, Dick may have been still safe.  
  
The Cray beeped, flooding in the report onto one of the screens. He avidly scanned it. God, Is this even in English?.The page was filled with typos such as yoos, hees and themmes. He scanned the statements from the people at the scene. One in particular caught his eye.   
  
" A homeless man dragged himself from his digs below the bridge, raving and pointing to a scorched paper that he found. He couldn't read it so he gave it to one of the officers on the scene. It said "A Bat for the Price of Two". It was probably some schoolboy's idea of a prank. The paper has not been included as evidence in the...." (1)  
  
  
Batman stopped reading and resumed to speak on the open line.  
  
"Barbara, have you read this part of the report?"  
  
"Do you think it's true?"  
  
"What better way to grab my attention than taking away or harming my partner ?"  
  
"You're right it would CERTAINLY grab your attention, do you think th..."  
  
Oracle was cut off by another communication coming through the secure line.  
  
"Master Bruce!"  
  
"Alfred what's wrong?"  
  
" It's Master Tim, Sir. Before I left on Sunday, he said that he wanted to checkout few of the leads on the War Documents Case. I've just returned to back to the College. I've checked his chambers. He sent a signal at 2.02am on last Tuesday from the docks. Sir, I don't know how to put this. I'm at the docks right now and there's a note..."  
  
"Saying- A Bat for the Price of Two" interrupted Batman.  
  
"...Sir? May I ask how do you know?" The shocked Butler responded.  
  
" Alfred, Nightwing is missing and there was that same note found at the site" Oracle stated. "Even the time is suspect, it's almost the same time that Dick disappeared..."  
  
"There is no such thing as coincidences. It must be tied all together but who did this and where are they?" the butler replied.  
  
"Alfred, stay at the docks I'll be there soon. And Oracle take another look in those files. See if you can find any other witnesses, somebody must have seen something" he rapped out shutting down the Cray and broke into a run.  
  
Reaching the BatMobile, he quickly open the car door and fired up the engine.  
The vehicle left in Cave in full throttle enveloped in the external darkness.  
  
xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx  
  
Elsewhere .......  
  
"Do you think he got the message by now, Master?"  
  
A deformed creature turned its humped back towards the Shadows. From the mouth of gloom, a long pair of gnarly hands were rubbing their fingers together with shrewd glee.  
  
" The Bat is off balance, acting on pure emotion. There is no better time to set Operation Deux in motion. By the time we are done, He will wish he never created his so called family..."  
  
The tirade breaks off in Maniacal laughter and the hands rise echoing its motions in the shadows.......   
  
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Notes (1) I wrote in correct English (i.e. no spelling mistakes, I hope:)Use your imagination! Yes I know, another cliffhanger...:) BTW J.W. you're right and wrong at the same time -Stay tuned. As per usual please send and comments or grievances to the addy above.  
  



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